I have spent the past 4-5 weeks searching for a Portable VoIP Phone Service. One that I can take with me and use anywhere I am, provided I have an internet connection … Sounds easy, right? Just Google it, you say? Or, maybe even a few names come to mind from seeing commercials on TV… Vonage or Avaya (Wayne Brady on a Segway sound familiar)?
It is not only not that simple, It’s near impossible because of the terminology developed and involved in the phone industry over the past 50 years makes it so.
1. I want a portable VoIP phone service.
Searching Google for “portable voip phone service” (makes sense, right?), brings up all sorts of results about “transferring your number to a voip” and various other results related to ”phone number portability”. Phone Number Portability is a service that allows you to keep the same phone number when switching providers, cell phone, landline, VoIP, or any other service. It’s name alone ruins my chances at finding a “Portable VoIP Phone Service” because the search waters are muddied to hell by the terms!
Not to mention that I get a bunch of results for portable/cordless phones, too. Then there are the results for listing regarding cell phone services … The telecom industry is inundated with a million common use terms and phrases. It makes it terribly hard to search for anything.
2. Reliable, Affordable VoIP phone service.
Apparently, every single VoIP company in existence is the most reliable and affordable service there is! One does not simply use these terms to search for any specific service on the internet! THEY ALL ARE RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE according to the searched text, they wrote, on their website!
Every “Review” site is just an affiliate site who rates all the services between 9 and 10! You can’t go wrong! Choose any of them and sign up so we get paid! Dipshits. Then there are the well known sites with reviews like CNET. The Editor Review ranks Vonage at 4/5 stars -Excellent! Wow! The actual user reviews, of which there are over 1000 ranks it at 1.5/5 stars! ONE POINT FIVE! Thanks CNET – liars.
3. A plan with Unlimited Minutes.
Unlimited Minutes you say? Unlimited Long Distance? Unlimited Calling in the US and Canada?! WOW! Sign me up! NO. This is all lies. It’s always a lie. The AvayaLive Connect Service for instance, mentions those three statements on their website and various other sales literature MANY, MANY times… when chatting with a representative, he casually mentions the service is limited to 2500 minutes! So I casually wrote a complaint to the BBB and FTC … How is it that they can get away with this blatantly false advertising? They are not the only ones and although I am particularly pissed at them for the above issue I will say that EVERY VoIP service provider I have come across.
Here is a small list of some providers that claim “Unlimited Minutes”, but actually DO HAVE A LIMIT (hidden away in their fine print TOS) …
- AvayaLive.com, as mentioned, $19.00/mo, 2500 min
- Phonebooth.com, $20.00/mo, 2500 min
- Vonage.com, $24.95/mo, 3000 min
- PhonePower.com and VoIP.com (same company), $19.95/mo, 5000 min (not bad, but it’s still not “unlimited” as advertised)
- Lingo.com, $21.95/mo, There was no minute limit mentioned, but they do reserve the right to change your unlimited plan to “metered treatment in which you are billed for each call made to any of your top five calling destinations”
I have already said this, but why is this outright lying allowed in advertising? It’s everywhere, nobody is doing anything about it and it’s getting worse. That is an article for another day though…
As it stands, the best option seems to be setting up my own PBX(private branch exchange) Server with Asterisk Open Source. Not something I really want to get into, but my options are quickly narrowing …
If anyone knows of any service or provider that will not lie and is fairly affordable and reliable with great call quality, please contact me for a reward!
The search continues!
